Days of Yamano
by serenphoria
Summary: 15 Vignettes. Kurogane & Fay in Yasha country told in three parts.  Complete.
1. Strangers

**Summary:** Fifteen vignettes. Kurogane & Fay in Yasha country told in three parts.

**Author's Note:**Spoilers for Shura/Shara arc. Conceptualized and completed before Celes arc ended.

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**-'-**

**Days of Yamano**

**-'-**

**(Part 1: Strangers)**

_It couldn't be helped, Yasha's camp needed men. But when the recruiters returned with those strange men in strange clothes, one with the coloring of Ashura's race no less, the soldiers wondered if they really were__**that**__strapped for resources or if the recruiters were just plain out of their minds._

_-'-_

**.misunderstanding.**

Kurogane's head ached with every step.

It throbbed.

And he refused to be generous and attribute it to the rough landing a while back.

No, it was that damn, loud, inexhaustible mage.

_We don't understand each other! You would__**think**__that without that translating meat bun around he'd be quiet_. At his limit, Kurogane whipped around and told the wizard exactly that. The irony of his actions didn't escape him and it only irritated him more.

Fay smiled up idiotically at him. Then, as if the ninja's response was an invitation, Fay launched into another monologue of gibberish.

Some things just don't change.

_Keep moving,_ Kurogane grumbled to himself. _Just keep moving._

_-'-  
_

**.choice.**

_'If you could have your wish granted, would you go back to your original world by yourself?' Fay had asked him once._

_Kurogane thought over his answer._

_'I'd go to a world that I know you guys would never come to. It'd be my chance to part ways with you,' he answered truthfully._

But something didn't settle well in his stomach when he found himself surrounded by a ring of dark-eyed soldiers on horseback, a stern commander grudgingly approving him but finding Fay wanting.

Even without a voice to defend himself, Fay stood proud, his eyes defiant despite his thin smile, not knowing it was his eyes that put him in danger.

It would be so easy...

"No," Kurogane replied, "he comes along."

-'-

**.black.**

Fay could tell his surly traveling companion was irritated. Surprisingly, the irritation wasn't aimed at _him_.

Even without words it was clear that the soldiers didn't trust them; there was a war going on after all. And despite being the less imposing of the two, hostility was aimed more strongly towards Fay, who could only guess that it was due to his outlandishly foreign features. _They couldn't possibly know I'm..._Fay shook away the smoky tendrils of nostalgia threatening to choke him. So Fay played dumb to alleviate the tension, only to have the animosity deflected to his partner and proxy, Kurogane, who _could_understand and who would rise to the bait.

Fay would watch from outside the crowd sometimes, Kurogane amongst the natives, thinking that the dark ninja really did fit right in if it weren't for him.

Kurogane didn't have to defend Fay.

Or maybe he did.

Maybe he was following some bizarre ninja code which demanded he protect the weak or protect his companions. Or protect those who wouldn't protect themselves, no matter how much he despised them.

Fay doesn't try or pretend to understand: there was a line he didn't want to cross.

But nevertheless Fay was grateful. He studied his traitorous eyes reflected in the water basin, thought of Kurogane's red ones, and wondered what he'd be willing to give to ease the man's burden.

-'-

**.wild.**

Kurogane hadn't thought about Tomoyo's curse in a while, not since facing Seishirou in Outo. (His brows ticked and he wasn't sure if it was the thought of his miko or the vampire hunter. Most likely both, damn nuisances.) It had been kudan and demons and freakin' _hurricanes_that fell to the singing of his sword throughout the journey. Nothing that put him in danger of activating the curse aside from his occasional urge to strangle the mage. But now training on the field, with humans sparring partners reminding him poignantly there were going to be humans on the other side attacking to kill, he felt a tingling in his forehead as if the curse was primed to activate at his first blunder.

His sparring partner sweated nervously as a wild grin spread across his face.

_So I have to fight a war without killing anyone, right?_

He could see Tomoyo smiling saccharinely at him.

A challenge. Like hell he's not going to fight with the intent to win.

_This is going to be interesting._

-'-

**.weapon.**

Fay had never held a bow before, but it felt familiar in his hands like his staff had.

An extension of himself.

A weapon.

Like the majority of the soldiers, Fay was first assigned a sword, but the thought of close-range combat made him blanch. So instead he hastily picked out the bow, miming his preference (hoping he didn't look too desperate), already mentally distancing himself from the inevitable bloodshed of war. Of misfortune.

His mind was far away when he took a few half-hearted shots at the straw human-shaped targets across the field. A gentle brush of wind tousling his hair with each draw of the bow and the dust glinted gold.

Murmurs of approval brought him back to the present: the straw-men were pierced through the heart with frightening accuracy.

Fay frowned.

_I'll need to remember to concentrate_, he thought.

-'-

**.dishonesty.**

It didn't register at first what was off. Not until one of the younger soldiers randomly squinted up at Kurogane's face (it was uncomfortably awkward) and then turned to his comrades, puzzled. "No they aren't," he said. And then it was clear why the harassment over his lineage had eased. And now that Kurogane thought about it, it was Fay's fair head and complexion (_and stupid antics, that undisciplined mage!_) that drew whispers and attention, not his foreign eyes. _Impossible, it doesn't make any biological sense!_

He marched into his tent purposefully, the leather flap cracking loudly against the soft wall.

"Kuuro-wan-waah—!"

Fay's enthusiastic greeting was abruptly cut short when Kurogane yanked him over by the arm. The blond stumbled and winced audibly at the rough treatment and Kurogane would have felt marginally guilty if he wasn't so intent on studying Fay. He pulled his face close and noticed the mage seemed nervous about intimacy he didn't initiate. Or he was hiding something that was close to being discovered. Fay twisted his fingers together with an anxious energy and his eyes darted around. His eyes—

"Eeeh?"

Kurogane started when Fay cried out, suddenly focused back on his captor, captivated and surprised. He pointed at Kurogane's eyes. "Waaah! Kuropuu—" and the blond launched into a garble of sound that the ninja took to be the idiot's language. A smile slid on with ease, the gobbledygook now sounding amazed and amused. Kurogane's suspicions lifted slightly and he let go, allowing Fay to pull out a metallic plate from his satchel. Peering into it like a mirror, his voice bubbled with renewed amazement as he winked each eye in turn into his reflection. Then, before Kurogane could back away, the crazy mage bounded over, clung onto his arm, and thrust the plate close to his face, singing out what could only be "look! look!"

He did and his black eyes looked back.

Kurogane frowned, but (watching the mage now spinning around the tent and lilting in a sing-song voice), he let it go, and silently decided this turn of events was a blessing.

-'-

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**Author's Note:** 'choice' references season 1, episode 26.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear your comments.


	2. Camp

-'-

**Days of Yamano**

-'-

**(Part 2: Camp)**

_The mystery surrounding the foreigners didn't wane, but grew, even when their presence became familiar. Who are they? What drove them? Where did they come from? And, when there was crashing, and swearing, and laughter coming from the tent, the occasional passerby wondered amusedly how they could live in such close proximity without killing one another._

-'-

**.distraction.**

There was a visible difference in Fay as time wore on and it became obvious that the kids (and Mokona) were just not _here_. Anywhere. His smile, however broad, was just a little sad, the atmosphere around him slightly melancholy as if the very air was affected by his mood.

As much as Kurogane welcomed the silence that being away from the translating meat bun afforded, the mage's unhappiness annoyed him.

And _that_ in of itself was annoying.

Why can't that damn magician function without yapping all hours of the day?

Fay needed a distraction, Kurogane decided. An auditory outlet. But the ninja wasn't about to teach the crazy magician Yama's language. For one, it would be conceding that the kids and the meat bun weren't going to show up, and no way in hell would he even entertain the thought that he wasn't returning to Tomoyo's side. For two, he wasn't about to voluntarily spend time coaching the man who would only manage to mangle his name in a new language.

"Oy, mage."

Fay looked up from his corner expectantly.

"If you've got nothing better to do, work on whistling properly."

Not expecting Fay to understand, Kurogane pulled his lips against his teeth and let out a sharp whistle.

The mage looked on, his eyebrows slightly pinched in confusion, waiting for Kurogane to elaborate on what sounded like a command.

"Whistling. Like this." Kurogane demonstrated again.

Suddenly, Fay's face lit up like a child given a new toy. Kurogane's eyebrow twitched.

He had a very bad feeling he was going to regret ever suggesting it.

"Vristeliing?" Fay tested the word on his tongue. His grin was suddenly impossibly wide. "Hyuu, hyuu!"

Yes, definitely regretting it.

-'-

**.honesty.**

On their down days, Fay would sometimes flit about the tent, pouring his manic energy into cleaning, while Kurogane sat tending to the weapons. The mage babbled in his unintelligible language, his voice undulating up and down, lilting then punctuating certain points as if he was telling a story. There were odd moments when Kurogane thought the mage sounded wistful, almost with an edge of solemnity. More often, Fay chirped with the cheerful tone he used when he wasn't serious, which was near always. Eventually Kurogane trained himself to not demand the other to _shut the hell up_ during these needy spells of gibbering. He sensed frustration and helplessness beneath the mage's grin when they faced social situations and realized that for someone so gregarious, being unable to communicate, staying _silent_, must be suffocating. So the ninja tunes out the noise and concentrates on the nicks on his shield and lets Fay tell his stories. How much of the stories were Fay's own, Kurogane never wondered and would never know.

And Fay preferred it that way.

-'-

**.promise.**

Sometimes, Kurogane would lie under the stars, next to the crackling campfire. Nights were warm here, like the summers of his childhood in faraway Nihon. But there was the hunter, the serpent, and the maiden in the moon and he'd wonder how far is far and how small the world truly is.

He'd drift to sleep, in his right hand a sword and in his left hand a promise.

-'-

**.scars.**

Fay wouldn't say he was an observant man. To be fair, he was astute when he knew to look (the magical barriers in the Hashin Castle, the shy, troubled glances between the kids). But he was at once too much in the moment and too far in the past to be observant like Kurogane was observant.

That's why he wasn't surprised he never noticed that scar on Kurogane's left hand until now.

Fay was tending to a particularly troublesome injury on the ninja's arm, one difficult to tend to with just the other hand, and, after much fussing, Kurogane relented and grudgingly allowed Fay to treat it. There it was: deep and brown and forever, burned as a reminder of something violent and painful that Fay could only guess at. He finished bandaging the wound, snuck a peek at Kurogane's turned face, and ran his thumb over the scar gently, feeling the rough contours prickling under his skin.

The ninja noticed immediately and jerked away, almost defensively. He scowled at Fay, more fiercely than usual, before his face relaxed with sudden recognition. Fay stayed still and silent for once and Kurogane, trying to cover up his reaction, settled for his annoyed look and went to sit on his own bedding. He sat facing the wall and determinedly away from Fay that night.

He didn't need to. Fay doesn't ask.

He's only a little jealous that Kurogane can wear his scars on the outside.

-'-

**.destiny.**

They never lingered on the moon. There was never an aftermath. The spell always tore them away in the midst of battle.

But Fay dreamt it.

He'd stand, paralyzed and dazed, his nose filled with the sting of fresh blood and burning flesh. He alone stood, a willow tall and dirty gold, amongst the fallen corpses feeding the rotting earth. He stood, always, staring at Kurogane's contorted body, feeling the blood trail down his hands and dripping off his fingers.

He'd wake with a rattling breath, his limbs shaking and was at once afraid he'd alert the sleeping ninja, and relieved that Kurogane was there at all.

And he'd pull his bedding around him tight, burrowing himself away from the lingering ghosts, and was cold in way that no amount of fur and feathers could drive away.

He'd drift back to sleep fitfully, thinking of Chii, the promise she guards, and of unrelenting hitsuzen.

-'-

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**Author's Note: **Thank you for reading! It was fun speculating Fay's (conception of the) past before the flashback was published.

Love to hear your thoughts!


	3. Combat

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**Days of Yamano**

-'-

**(Part 3: Combat)**

_The outsider, Kurogane, quickly inspired awe and respect amongst the troops. Fearless and efficient, his battle prowess quickly earned him a place at Yasha's side. The graceful, blond foreigner complemented the dark demon's direct style with precise, long range attacks. Together, they were a formidable force. And if anyone noticed that the duo's headcount was zero, he kept it to himself._

-'-

**.trust.**

They knew they made it when they were given steeds. Yasha's elite alone were mounted in battle.

On friggin' dragon half-horse things.

Kurogane's eyebrow twitched as he faced his steed, arms crossed. The thing huffed impatiently, tossing his head about and digging its hooves in the upturned dirt. If dragony-horse-things could look daggers, that's what it and his new rider were doing to each other right now.

Kurogane heard hooves approaching and turned just a little to the mage addressing him, carefully keeping the beast within his peripheral vision. Fay sat happily on his own steed, petting its strong neck and leaning low to speak into its ear, though Kurogane was pretty sure the mage was addressing him and saying something annoying and false like 'they're harmless, see?' Gods he hated animals.

Slightly nettled that he was being shown up by that clown of a man, Kurogane reached out his hand to pet the thing's muzzle and gain its trust. There was a sound like ogre flatulence and Kurogane jerked his hand away slick with beasty mucus.

"What the—!" Kurogane made the most animated '_ugh!_' face that Fay had ever seen on him and launched into a long string of rude phrases as he flung the mucus from his fingers. Fay doubled over laughing, his steed seemingly snorting along with him.

Kurogane was not amused.

When the mage finally stopped shaking, he said something with an inviting tone and patted the seat behind him.

Kurogane saw red. "Hell no! Like I'd ever share a saddle!"

Fay shrugged, and smiled knowingly as he watched his comrade attempt to be the master of his steed.

-'-

**.fun.**

Fay knew the moment he saw Yasha on the field that he was a construct of a wish made reality by a feather. He had better magical acuity than Mokona (though for his own reasons allowed the creature to be the beacon for all things magical) and knew the same way he knew the extent of Seishirou's powers and that Shaoran was more than meets the eye. But Fay chose not to tell Kurogane, feigned surprise when Ashura made her final wish, partly because it was pointless obtaining the feather without the kids, but more so because he didn't want to spoil the ninja's fun on the battlefield by turning his mind back to the mission.

-'-

**.loyalty.**

The old blood lust was hard to ignore on the field. The enemy rushing at you in droves, the din of metal and earth and living and dying; it would be so easy just to hack through them all in the haze of battle. The headband, adorned with the crescent moon, kept Kurogane in check.

He had picked it out at the armory and held onto it, even as the old armorer launched into the tale of everlasting conflict fought on the moon and beamed approvingly at Kurogane's declaration of loyalty. Kurogane didn't bother to correct him.

He pledges fealty to no one.

No one, but the priestess who serves Tsukuyomi, the priestess of the moon.

So before each battle he'd press the crescent over the invisible seal, the constant pressure reminding him of his curse and his promise. He'd ride into battle without taking a life to protect his strength. He'd fight on with this army he feels no loyalty towards, if only as a step closer to returning home. He'd grin uncontrollably from time to time, his dark eyes gleaming, not realizing just how much his body hummed with anticipation, how much his soul resonated with the chaos, how much he enjoyed the challenge.

His loyalties lie with Tomoyo and with himself and with the memory of his family. And that's that.

Still, he'd sometimes wonder if there was more to it, more to this existence, and if he'd ever find that strength Tomoyo-hime had foreseen.

He parries away a spear aimed at Fay and thinks he understands a little.

-'-

**.arrival.**

The end of the battle was nearing and Fay felt slightly disoriented without knowing why. Then it hit him: he could understand the shouting around him with perfect clarity.

Suppressing the urge to throw himself onto Kurogane cheering, Fay calmly urged his steed forward until he was parallel to the ninja. He swung his leg over casually, propped his head up with his fists and smiled.

Kurogane glanced over without turning his head.

"They're here."

Kurogane hardly flinched, if he was surprised at all. Instead, his lips drew up a devilish grin.

"Kh. It's about time." He turned to the mage, serious. "Don't give us away. Nothing's changed." There was an expectant pause, and Fay tilted his chin in the direction of the ridge. Kurogane pulled to the other side of Yasha for a better look.

Fay was delighted to see that the gruff ninja was anxious to see the children. And he wondered how much of that frown was Kurogane playing his part, and how much because his apprentice was wearing pigtails.

-'-

**.understanding.**

Only things did change.

Their minds were now back on the mission: help the kids, keep moving.

_Keep moving._

Yet things didn't return to how it was before being stranded in Yama. There are some bonds that can't be helped after months of constant companionship.

"Leave the brat to me. Don't interfere," Kurogane said back at camp despite knowing Mokona wasn't anywhere near to translate.

Fay smiled and nodded.

Sometimes, there's no need for words.

-'-

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**Author's Note:** Thanks for reading everyone! It may not seem like much, but this collection took several months to complete, so any feedback, comments, or even a hello would be very much appreciated!


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